World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 81 Revenge (2)
"No, you are not mistaken, this is indeed a boy. But just now, your Excellency said that you want to know two things. What is the second thing?"

"The second thing is this. At that time, you asked the priest to listen to your confession. Later, according to your request, Elder Buzzoni went to see you in Nîmes Prison. So what crime were you accused of committing?"

"That may be a long story, sir."

"What does that matter? It's only 10 o'clock, and you know I don't like to sleep. I don't think you're sleepy right now."

Beticio bowed and resumed speaking. "At that time I resumed my old business and started smuggling again, half to dispel the haunting memories of the past, and half to help the poor widow. Smuggling was a better business in those days. There was a time after the revolution. The law is lax. The security of the southern coast is particularly sloppy, because there are riots one after another, Avignon, Nîmes, and Uzes. There are accidents one after another. It can be said that the government is truce with us, and we just take the opportunity to communicate with all parts of the coast. Since my brother was assassinated in the streets of Nîmes, I didn't want to go there, so the innkeeper with whom we did business saw that we didn't go to him, so he came to find us himself. We opened a branch on the road from Beaucaire to Beaucaire, called the Pont du Gard, so that we had a dozen warehouses in Egmott, Martigues, and Bourke, not only to stock, but also to sell them when necessary. You can hide from the customs officers and military police. As long as you are smart and willing to work in smuggling, it is very profitable. I used to live my life in the mountains, but now I have more worries, and I am even more afraid of the military police and customs Now, once I am brought before the judge, it will be an interrogation. In the first interrogation, I will go to the bottom of my past and check my old accounts. If I want to find out something now, it will be better than smuggling imported cigars and selling them into barrels without a license. So much more serious than my soju. So I would rather be beaten to death a thousand times than caught once. I have also done earth-shattering things, and I have experienced more than once that if we take too much care of our bodies, this is almost our success The only obstacle is that our business must be resolved quickly, and it must be done decisively and without mercy. It is true that as long as a person is willing to risk his life, he is not the same as others, or more precisely. For this, other people are not on the same level as him, and whoever is so cruel will immediately become ten times stronger and have a far-sighted vision."

"Philosophy, Monsieur Beticio!" interrupted the count. "Have you done a little of everything in your life?"

"Ah, sorry, Your Excellency!"

"No, no, it's just philosophy at 10:[-] at night, which is a bit late after all. But, other than that, I don't have any objections. I think what you say is right, and no philosophy of any kind can say that. Come."

"The farther and farther I traveled, the more I gained, and the growth of our small fortune. One day I was going out for a run, and Asenta said: 'You go, you I'll surprise you when I come back.' I asked her what was the matter, but it was no use, and she wouldn't say anything more, so I went away. It was nearly six weeks on this trip, and we were in Luxembourg. It is a place name in Italy. The oil was loaded, and the British cotton was loaded in Leghorn. It was also smooth when unloading. We all got the bonus and came back happily. As soon as I got home, the first thing I saw Seeing that there is a cradle in the most conspicuous place of Ascenta’s room, compared with the whole room, this cradle is gorgeous enough, and a baby of seven or eight months is lying in it. I shouted happily. I killed After the prosecutor, the only sad thing in my heart was regretting that I should have left the child. Of course, I have no regrets about the assassination itself. Poor Arsenta saw what was on my mind and took advantage of my absence She took the first half of the swaddling baby, and fearing that she would forget, she wrote down the exact date and time when the baby was handed over to the nursery. She went to Paris on the road, and then ran to ask for the baby back, and no one objected to it, and the baby was returned to her. .Ah, I will tell you the truth, Monsieur Count, I was so moved to see the poor little creature lying in its cradle, and tears welled up in my eyes.' Indeed, Arsenta,' I cried, 'you are a Wonderful woman, God bless you.'”

"That is not so exact as your philosophy," said Monte Cristo. "It is, in fact, nothing but faith."

"Ah, my lord," continued Beticio, "you are right, God sent this child to punish me. The evil nature has never been revealed so early, but it cannot be said that the child is not well-bred. Well, my sister-in-law treats him like a little grandson. The boy has a pretty face and a pair of light blue eyes like the glaze of Chinese porcelain, which match the creamy white background very well, but his golden His hair was so bright that it made his face look strange on the contrary, his eyes were more intelligent and his smile more sly. It was also bad luck, because there is a saying that 'brown-haired people are either good or bad,' says Benedetto. It is true, he has been very poisonous since he was a child. Yes, his mother's doting also indulged his first bad habits. For this child, my poor sister-in-law actually walked four or five miles to the market in the town Buy fresh fruit and the best sweets, but he won't eat oranges from Parma and tins from Genoa. He can eat chestnuts and apples from our orchard, but he will sneak through the fence to eat them. Chestnuts from the neighbor's house, or eating dried apples in his attic.

"When Benedetto was about five or six years old, one day our neighbor Vazirio came to us and said that he had lost a louis in his purse. This neighbor is exactly like the customs in our place. What kind of money bags and jewellery, because, as Monsieur the Count knows as well as we do, there are no thieves in Corsica. We thought Vazirio made a mistake in counting the money, but he insisted that there was no mistake That day, Benedetto was away early in the morning, and we were very anxious. We didn't see him come back with a monkey until evening. He said that the monkey was tied under a tree and he picked it up by chance. The naughty boy didn't know what to think, and for a month he wanted a monkey. A busker happened to come to the village of Logliano, and he had several monkeys. Benedet was very happy to see more monkey tricks. , that absurd idea must have been taught him by the busker. 'There are no monkeys in our village,' I said to him, 'and there are no monkeys on a leash. Tell me honestly, how did you get this monkey here?' Bene Daido insisted on his lies, and added a lot of embellishments, which were completely nonsense, without a word of truth. I was angry, but he laughed. I threatened to hit him, and he took two steps back. 'You can't hit me,' he said, 'you don't have the right, you're not my real father.'

"We still don't know who told him this deadly secret, but we have been careful to keep it from him. Anyway, just one sentence made the child's nature clear, and I was almost frightened. The hand dropped again, not even touching the wicked boy. The boy won, and after this victory he became bolder. Since then, he has become less and less worthy of Arsenta's affection for him, but Arsenta seems to be more and more to him. More and more spoiled. Asenta gave him money, but he spent it at will, and Arsenta couldn’t persuade him. He also used the money to do all kinds of absurd things, but Arsenta wanted to stop him, but he didn’t have the guts. I’m in Logria Things were ok when I was in Nuo, but as soon as I left, Benedetto became the head of the family and made a mess of everything. He just turned 11, and his partners were all in their late teens They were handed in by the young men of Bastia and Corte, and they had a few pranks—in fact, it can be serious, and the court even gave us a warning. I panicked, because as long as If there is an arraignment, the consequences will be disastrous. It happens that I have a very important matter and I must leave Corsica for a walk. I have thought about it for a long time. Benedetto will go together. The smuggler's life is intense and hard, and the discipline on board is strict. I hope to change his character, which is not terrible enough to degenerate, but is about to degenerate.

"I took Benededo aside, told him to come with me, and made a lot of nice things for a 12-year-old. He just listened to me the whole time, and when I was done, he But he burst out laughing. 'Are you crazy, Uncle?' he said, calling me like that when he was happy. Yes, you don’t want to feel comfortable when you don’t do anything, but you have to work hard, asking for trouble like you! It’s freezing at night, scorching in the sun during the day, hiding endlessly, being shot as soon as you show your head, I have gone through all these hardships just to get a little money! Money, I have as much money as I want, and my mother will give me money as soon as I ask for it. Look, if I agree to what you told me, then I will be a fool I was stunned when he was so bold and said this truth. Benedetto turned around and went to play with his friends. He pointed at me from a distance and spoke to them, treating me as a A big fool."

"Dear child!" murmured Monte Cristo.

"Oh, if he had been my own," went on Beticio, "if he had been my son, or at least my own nephew, I might well have put him on the right track, for conscience is strength. The child's father died in my hands, so I couldn't be cruel and dared not beat him and scold him. I tried to persuade my sister-in-law, but when it comes to these things, she always protects the unfortunate child. She doesn't hide it Me, she has been short of money several times, and the sums are quite large. I told her that there is a place where she can hide our little treasure. I also made up my own mind, and Benedet should read more, write and The math is very good, because when he really wants to study hard, what he learns in a day will take a week for others. As I said just now, I have made up my mind, which ship I should send him to as a pawn The clerk, without telling him anything in advance, will catch him one day and send him to the ship. In this way, he will be handed over to the captain, and his future will be determined by himself. If I make up my mind, I will set off for France.

"Our work on this trip is not out of the Bay of Lion. It is getting more and more difficult to do the work at this time, because it is already 1829. The situation has completely returned to calm, and the coastal management is stricter than ever before. The market in Beaucaire has just opened, and the inspections have become more stringent. At first our work went smoothly, we were a double-bottomed boat, and the smuggled goods were loaded in the mezzanine. The Rhone River from Beaucaire As far as Al, the two banks were full of boats, so we mixed in and moored. Once we arrived, we unloaded the contraband on the boat and sent it to the city in the dark all night. It may be that we were too careless, or someone sold us. One evening at 5 o'clock, when we were preparing to eat, a little sailor on our ship ran to us in a hurry and told us that he I saw an anti-smuggling team from the customs coming towards us. To be precise, it was not because of this team that we panicked, because there were teams of anti-smuggling patrolling along the Rhone River all the time. What surprised us was that I heard from the child that they were on guard and were not seen along the way. We immediately became vigilant, but it was too late. Our boat was obviously a search target and was surrounded by groups. I saw that among the people at the customs There are also a few gendarmes. I am usually timid when I see other troops, but now I am very timid when I see the gendarmes. So I jumped into the cargo hold, climbed out from the porthole, dived into the river, and then I dived and swam , holding my breath and swimming for a long time before breathing, I swam unnoticed to a canal, which was newly dug, connecting the Rhone and the Beaucaire-Egmott Canal. Once here I was saved, for I could swim down the channel without being seen. Thus I swam safely to the canal. I did not come across this way by accident, as I have told your lordship, the family of Nimes The innkeeper has opened another inn on the road from Bellegat to Beaucaire."

"Yes," said Monte Cristo, "I remember very well, my venerable master, who, if I am not mistaken, is in collusion with you."

"That's right," replied Beticio, "but seven or eight years ago he gave up the shop to a tailor from Marseilles, who couldn't keep up his old trade, so he wanted to make a fortune in another. Needless to say, The arrangement we agreed with the original boss is now business as usual with the new boss, so I plan to find that person to hide for a while."

"What's the man's name?" asked the count, as if he were beginning to be interested in what Beticio had to say.

"His name was Gaspar Caderos. He married a woman from the village of Calcomte, we don't know her by any other name than her village name. Poor woman, who got the swamp. He suffered from cold and fever, and was languidly waiting to die. But that man was thick and strong, about 40-45 years old, and he showed us more than once that he had brains and courage in critical moments.”

"You said," asked Monte Cristo, "that the year in which these things happened was..."

"1829, Monsieur Earl."

"What month?"

"October."

"At the beginning of the month or at the end of the month?"

"On the evening of the 3rd."

"Ah," said Monte Cristo, "June 1829, 6... Well, let's go on."

(End of this chapter)